Author 




Title 



Imprint. 



\%AS 



IfAt-ur-:^^ ^V/>.^^'^^ ^ ^■ 



f' 



<^-^ 



-f^ 


\ — ^ 




IE 31 3P © m ^ 




OF 




Dr. STEPHEN COLLINS, 




t ON 


IPlQf 


BILE© lEIDIffCDATPKDKi 




PRESENTED BY HIM, TO 


fMH} (DEf¥ (S(D¥M(BII3Ii ®F ^AMIElItlElig 




AS CHAIRMAN OF THE 


^ 


JOINT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. 




BALTIMORE: 




PRINTED BY JAMES LUCAS. 




1815. 



7^ 







W(0~ 



m li ]p © m w 



Uu. STEPHEN COLLINS, 

7 



IPWIBILE© M ID) Iff At 11® H: 



PRESENTED BY HIM, TO 



f Mil (snf Y (s®¥M(siiiL m %mmm%'m. 



A3 CHAIRMAN OF THE 






JOINT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION 



BALTIMORE: 
FRINTfiD BY JAMBS LOCA3 

1845. 



,,5^ 






\ 

vs 






gj@lf 



The joint committee on education, to whom was referred so much 
of the message of the Mayor, as relates to the Public Schools, sub- 
mit the following 

REPORT. 

Your committee cannot refrain from an expression of their high 
gratification at the prominence given, in the Mayor's annual mes- 
sage, to the education of the young ; and they most cordially unite 
with him in the opinion that, " there is no kind of expense which 
the people of our city will contribute to defray with more alacrity, 
than that for the support of Public Schools." The education of 
the young, in institutions supported at the public charge, is, in many 
portions of Europe, and in this country, one of the most remarkable 
features of the age in which it is our happiness to live. It is a 
patriotic policy ; because, while education awakens the faculties of 
youth, and thus preserves the mind from starvation, and the heart 
from impoverishment, it also enlightens manhood in all that apper- 
tains to civil and religious liberty ; and thus qualifies the citizen to 
comprehend and to maintain the principles on which our institutions 
are based. It is an economical policy ; because the diffusion of 
knowledge tends to diminish the perpetration of crime ; and the 
cost attending on the conviction and punishment of the offender 
against civil and social laws, would be more benevolently expended 
in teaching him the true nature of moral obligation. The welfare 
of society may require a sacrifice to the sternness of her statutes ; 
but humanity will endeavor to save the citizen from the commission 
of crime. It is a benevolent policy ; because education teaches man 
his accountability and his destiny ; and thus conducts him to the 
knowledge of the Great Spirit from whom he came, and to whom 
he tends. Sjociety, like a loving mother, should open her arms to 
receive the destitute wanderer and the homeless orphan to her warm 
and ample bosom ; and may reasonably expect that the virtue and 
usefulness of manhood will more than repay her maternal care. The 
unenlightened mind of man gives utterance to sounds as mournful 
as those of the Egyptian statue when surrounded by the darkness 



of night ; but when the genial influence of education is imparted, 
the sound is as harmonious as that of the same statue when it re- 
ceived the rays of the rising sun. It is delightful to contemplate 
that public education imparted to poverty and orphanage, may give 
developement to genius of the highest order, which, without this 
fostering care, might have gone down to the grave, shrouded in 
Egyptian darkness — " darkness visible" — " darkness that might be 
felt." The rude block of marble lies JUndistinguished in the quarry, 
until the chisel of the sculptor gives it the graceful proportions which 
attract the admiration of the world. 

The noble example aiforded by some of the States of the Union, 
deserves imitation as far as prudence will allow. Massachusetts ap- 
propriated, during the last year, $596,000 for the support of Schools; 
New York about one million for 700,000 children actually taught in 
the district Schools; Pennsylvania $470,000 for 208,402 scholars ; 
and the Controllers of Philadelphia city and county expended 
^220,000 for the education of 33,300 scholars. Ohio has six 
thousand Public School Districts, and 696,000 youth entitled to the 
benefit of these schools. Your committee are confident that the 
public spirit of the citizens of Baltimore will induce them to imitate, 
with a due regard to prudential considerations, such bright examples, 
which give a fair promise for the prosperity of our country, and the 
perpetuity of our institutions, — civil and political. 

Your committee have indulged in these general observations, in 
order that they might be enabled to define their own position. They 
are, in the largest sense, the friends of public education. But they 
cannot close their eyes from the influence of those prudential mo- 
tives which control the action of all reflecting men. They are aware 
of the pecuniary burdens under v/hich Baltimore has been placed by 
the indulgence of patriotic considerations; and they proudly rejoice 
at the self-sacrificing spirit with which she has sustained her fair and 
unspotted name. The city authorities should be cautious in impos- 
ing, even for benevolent objects, additional burdens on the tax-pay- 
er. But, in addition to this, your committee believe that the pros- 
perity of the public school system in Baltimore, is essentially con- 
nected with lis gradual developement. The wisdom derived from the 
experience of passing years, will give the ability to lay the founda- 
tions strong and secure; a rapid and expansive erection would en- 
danger its stability. A vigilant, economical and successful adminis- 
tration of the public school system will maintain and increase its po- 
pularity ; and the City Council should carefully guard against the 
adoption of measures which might divert this favorable current into 
hostility. Your committee adopt the words of Bacon which, pro- 
found in their wisdom, can never become trite : "Our changes, to be 
beneficial, should resemble those of time, which, though the greatest 
of all innovators, works out its alterations so gradually that the pro- 



cess is never perceived." The truth of this analogical illustration is 
confirmed by observation of material and intellectual developement. 
The acorn, by degrees, is matured into the oak ; and years pass 
away before its roots have extended so far as to enable it to defy the 
power of elemental strife. The philosopher, whose mind extends over 
"the range of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres," was once cra- 
dled in the mental imbecility of childhood. It was, step by step, 
that he attained the knowledge which makes him, "How noble in 
reason! how infinite in faculties ! in apprehension, how like a god !" 
Centuries passed away before the nomadic tribes of primeval man 
were merged in the institutions of civilized life. Christianity her- 
self, notwithstanding the divinity of her origin, had her broad foun- 
dations laid immoveably secure, in suffering and toil, in persecution 
and fire, in blood and death. It is a great law of material and in- 
tellectual nature, that premature or rapid developement, is followed 
by premature or rapid decay. 

Having indulged in these remarks as explanatory of their views in 
relation to the general policy of the public school system, your com- 
mittee proceed to the consideration of the provision for the support 
of the Public Schools during the current year. In their estimate of 
expenditures and resources for eighteen hundred and forty-five, the 
School Commissioners report the expenditures as $45,043 94 ; in- 
cluding $5,825 as note and interest to be paid during the year on the 
purchase money for the High School building. To meet this expen- 
diture, the City Register, in his last annual report, makes a statement 
which shews that the estimated resources of the Board of School Com- 
missioners, together with the moneys belonging to the School fund 
which will be received by him during the year, amount to ^35,715 78. 
If this be deducted from the estimated expenditure, it will leave 
$9,328 16, as the amount to be appropriated by the City Council for 
the ordinary expenses of this year; which sum also includes $5,825, 
due the Messrs. Cohen as an instalment payable in 1845. Having 
thus, by a compaiison of the estimates of the School Commissioners 
with those of the Register, arrived at the amount required, your com- 
mittee most cordially recommend that the City Council appropriate 
this sum, as corrected in a subsequent part of this report, for the 
Public Schools. 

Your committee do not assent to that part of the report of the 
Commissioners in which they recommend the continuance of the 
levy of five cents on every hundred dollars. It is the duty of the 
Commissioners to inform the City Council what sum will be required 
for the support of the schools ; and it is the duty of the Council to 
provide for the payment of that sura. But the mode, by which that 
amount shall be raised is to be determined by the Council. The 
propriety of this course will be easily proved. By a comparison of 
the reports of Commissioners and Register, it has been shown that 



6 

the amount required is $9,328 16. A levy of five cents on the 
hundred dollars, taking the assessed value of property in the city, 
liable to taxes for city purposes, at $57,500,000, will amount to 
$28,750. Your committee are informed by the Register that seven- 
tenths of a levy will be collected by the close of the year. Seven- 
tenths of $28,750 is $20,125. Hence it will appear that a levy 
of five cents on every hundred dollars, would produce, during the 
yeai\ twice the requisite amount. The report of the Commission- 
ers was drawn up before the publication of that of the Register ; 
and the report of the Register shows that the estimated receipts, 
during the year, from arrears of school tax, from city's proportion of 
school fund from the State, and from balance in hand, amount to 
$22,573 06. How then was it possible for the School Commission- 
ers to know what specific levy would be required, when they were 
uninformed as to what amount, apart from a new levy, would be in 
the city treasury, for their use, during the year? In the report sub- 
mitted on January 1st, 1844, the Commissioners, for the first time, 
recommended a specific levy. Your committee respectfully suggest 
that the mode which prevailed before that period is the most appro- 
priate. Whenever the Council authorises the erection of new school 
houses, the ordinance which confers the power can supply the means. 
The fourth section of ordinance No. 7, approved March 11th, 1844, 
provides that the School Commissioners shall not build or purchase 
property without the approval of the Mayor and City Council. Why, 
then, should a levy be laid which will produce twice the requisite 
amount ? 

One of the items in the estimate of resources, made by the School 
Commissioners, is $800 for rent of the Assembly Rooms. But as 
the city commissioners have given a unanimous opinion that the con- 
tinued use of the saloon for balls would endanger the safety of the 
building, and the School Commissioners having decided that it shall 
no longer be used for such purposes, or be rented for any uses ex- 
cept for concerts and lectures, which will not endanger the building, 
nor, being held at night, interfere with the order of the schools, a 
diminution of that item of resource will be the consequence. In 
addition to this, they have very properly determined to occupy the 
Library room for the accommodation of male school No. 9, by which 
arrangement they will be enabled to remove the smaller scholars from 
the dark, low and unhealthy room in the basement of the building. 
In consequence of these arrangements, your committee have added 
$400 to the estimate of expenditures, made by the board of com- 
missioners. 

The Male High School has long been in want of the apparatus 
accessary for teaching Chemistry, Astronomy and Natural Philoso- 
phy. Your committee therefore recommend an appropriation of $500, 
or such portion of that amount as may be required, for the purchase, 
under the direction of the School Commissioners, of this apparatus. 



Provision was made, in the levy of eighteen hundred and forty- 
four, for the payment of the note and interest due to the Messrs. 
Cohen in eighteen hundred and forty-five ; but, as the estimated re- 
ceipts from arrears of school tax, during the present year, amounting 
to $12,565 35, include this sum, the note and interest are embraced 
in the expenditures for eighteen hundred and forty-five. 

The whole account, as corrected, is stated as follows, to wit : 

School Commissioners estimate of expenditures for 1845, $45,043 94 
School Commissioners estimate of resources, $ 13,142 72 
Register's estimate of resources, . . 22,573 06 

35,715 78 



f 9,328 16 
Add deficit of rent of Assembly Rooms, . . 400 00 

Add Apparatus for Male High School, ... 500 00 

$10,228 16 

Thus it will appear that f 10,228 16 is the sum required for the 
ordinary expenses of the Public Schools for the year eighteen hun- 
dred and forty-five. A levy of four cents on every hundred dollars, 
which is the amount agreed on in a conference between your com- 
mittee and the School Commissioners, will produce $23,000. Seven- 
tenths of this amount is $16,100, which will be collected during 
the year ; and, as this sum exceeds the estimated demand on the 
school tax, a balance will be in the city treasury at the end of the 
year. 

Your committee recommend the adoption of the subjoined resolu- 
tions : 

STEPHEN COLLINS, Chairman. 

Resolved by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore^ That, for. 
the payment of the ordinary expenses of the Public Schools for the 
year 1845, a tax of four cents on every hundred dollars of assessa- 
ble property in the city of Baltimore, and in like proportion for any 
greater or less amount, be, and the same hereby is, levied for the 
year eighteen hundred and forty-five. 

Section 2. And he it further resolved^ That the sum of five hun- 
dred dollars, or such portion of that amount as may be required, be, 
and the same hereby is, appropriated for the purchase, under the di- 
rection and control of the School Commissioners, of apparatus re- 
quired for teaching Chemistry, Astronomy, and Natural Philosophy 
in the Male Public High School ; said sum, or such portion as may 
be required, to be paid out of the school tax for eighteen hundred 
and forty-five. 



•-'Ifi 



nib 



•i<> 



